‘Chinese Lanterns’ by Lumina Lacquer

Happy Saturday all! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I’m finally starting to feel a bit better. Woohoo! But I shall resist getting sidetracked. On to polish related things!

Today it’s all about ‘Chinese Lanterns’ by indie maker Lumina Lacquer. It’s a jam packed glitter topper in a clear base.

One thick coat ‘Chinese Lanterns’ over Essie ‘School of Hard Knocks.’

Hearts? Check. Giant circles? Check. Little hexes? Check check. Bajillion different colors and sizes? CHECCCKKKK.

I layered this over a dusky color first, something that might resemble lanterns against an early evening sky. I was blown away by how much glitter comes out with absolutely no fishing involved. Every brush stroke was thick with glitter (thick in a really good way, not a gloopy way).

For my second base color, I wanted something that resembled warm candlelight, like the light that glows within the paper globe of a Chinese lantern.

One thick coat ‘Chinese Lanterns’ over A England ‘Holy Grail.’

I absolutely love how this polish looks over a lighter color like this. It made all the colors in ‘Chinese Lanterns’ pop and come to life. It’s an incredibly lively and vibrant combination.

This is my first Lumina Lacquer and overall I have absolutely no complaints. It was shipped to me quickly and was very easy to apply. One thing to note – the last time Lumina Lacquer did a restock, ‘Chinese Lanterns’ sold out quickly. So if it’s one you’re interested in, I would follow her facebook for restock updates. And check out her shop for other polishes she makes!

KBShimmer Candy Cane Crush – the holiday multitasker.

I know it’s early, but I want to get some indie Valentine’s polishes on my blog promptly so if you wanted to order one it could still make it in time for February 14. I’m starting with one of my favorites – KBShimmer’s Candy Cane Crush.

Yes, it’s got a Christmasy name, but Candy Cane Crush is a holiday multitasker. Layer it over green for Christmas, over blue for the 4th of July (for my American readers), or, as in this case, over pink for Valentine’s Day.

One coat Candy Cane Crush over Pure Ice Love

It’s the easiest Valentine’s mani in the world – slap on a coat of something pink, then layer this on top. Boom. You’re done! And while Candy Cane Crush is a red & white glitter bomb, it’s still super easy to work with. I don’t have to fish for anything, and it goes on easily.

KBShimmer’s polishes can be found on her website for U.S. residents, or at Harlow & Co. for international customers. I can’t recommend her polish enough – Candy Cane Crush was one of the first indie polishes I ever bought, and I’ve only grown to love KBShimmer products more since then.

A England ‘Dragon.’ GrrrRAWR!

‘Grrrrawr’ is the sound a dragon makes, in case you wondering. Not a lot of people know that. But I bet A England did, because they clearly know a lot about dragons, considering how perfectly they nailed the polish ‘Dragon.’ Seriously, check out this glimmery, holo beauty:

So grrrrawr.

As soon as I swiped this on (opaque in ONE COAT!), it instantly became one of my top five favorite polishes in my stash. Green is my favorite color, and I have been searching for a while now for the perfect, rich, foresty green – and this is it. It dried super quickly, and it hits the light like a jewel.

Of course, even with the perfect green, I get antsy wearing the same polish two days in a row. So I decided to add some ‘scales’ to this dragon with a single coat of Essie’s Shine Of The Times on top.

Like a dragon’s belly.

For any of you that are Hobbit fans, doesn’t this make you think of Smog the dragon? I think we should convince one of The Hobbit movie actors to wear this to the next premier. Right? Totally see that happening.

Anyways, since I’m the most antsy mani person ever, I decided to matte it to bring out the flakies. Um, HELLO.

A fire-breathing mani! Mattifying it gives it a crazy fiery glow.

The quality of A England’s polishes are fantastic, and my orders have always shipped promptly. You can find A England’s polishes on their website, and they have free international shipping! I highly recommend their products – the pigments, the colors and the quality are truly fantastic.

 

Update – I just wanted to update and let you all know that this was an absolute DREAM to remove. Took absolutely no effort! Oh A England, you so fab.

Pixie Static. Ninja Polish ‘Pinkerbell.’

One layer of Ninja Polish ‘Pinkerbell’ over OPI’s ‘Don’t Talk Bach To Me.’

I’d like to imagine that if fairies had tv’s that they watched inside their little mushroom cap homes, this is what it would look like when they lost their cable connection – colorful rainbow static blitzing on their screens. They would stomp around their living rooms all angry and looking relatively adorable, and then have to call the technical help line for the fairy cable company and wait on hold.

Er, sorry. Got carried away there for a minute.

This is an insanely colorful glitter polish, packed with blue, yellow, and pink micro matte glitter. Somehow, even with how unique and colorful it is, it stills manages to remain somewhat subdued – it’s not in-your-face with its uniqueness, but rather a little bit quiet and shy about it, and I like that. I could wear this mani to go grocery shopping and not feel like my nails were screaming ‘LOOK AT ME!’ while still being really unique and interesting.

Two coats over ring finger.

Application for this polish was fine – a little bit of dabbling required, but not much. It does dry with a rough texture, so use a topcoat if you want to smooth it out. I’ve used NYC’s ‘Matte Me Crazy’ (a mattifying topcoat) in these photos. The glitter is so fine and thickly packed that you could easily build it to opacity in about three coats – in the photo above and below I’ve put two coats on my ring finger to show you how quickly it could become opaque.

Two coats over ring finger.

‘Pinkerbell’ is an indie polish that can be found at ninja polish’s website. It’s currently sold out, but you can sign up to get an email when it’s back in stock if you’re interested. In addition to making their own indie polishes, Ninja Polish also stocks other indie makers as well, from A England to Picture Polish. They ship  very quickly and I’ve been nothing but pleased with their service so far.

Skunk fights and vampire bites – Pretty & Polished ‘Vampire Sing-a-long’

Pretty & Polished recently came out with an Adventure Time themed collection called ‘Mathematical!’ and today I have ‘Vampire Sing-a-long’ to show you, based off the character Marceline.

Marceline, the vampire queen.

Marceline is rebellious, punk-rockish, and straightforward – and this polish demonstrates all of those qualities. See for yourself:

I don’t think I ever imagined myself describing a glitter as ‘badass,’ but that’s pretty much what’s happening here. Black bars, matte red and white, deep purple and black circles? It’s like two angry skunks got into a fistfight, fur flew, and they both ended up with bruised and bloody noses. Except that’s all happening on your nails, in glitter form.

This polish looks more purple in the bottle, but comes out much more scattered, like multicolored static television. I used China Glaze ‘Spellbound’ underneath it here.

This polish kind of bummed me out in person. I kept seeing awesome swatches of it online, and the large black dot glitters made it really unique. However, when I tried to apply the polish, it was nearly impossible for me to get the dots out of the bottle. As you can see from the pictures, I managed to get one on my ring finger (and one on my thumb, which isn’t shown). I couldn’t even fish them out of the bottle when I tried – it may be due to the fact that I had a mini; maybe they are easier to get out of a full-sized bottle. The one circular glitter I did manage to get on ring finger wouldn’t lie flat though, either. It kind of bummed me out.

The polish in general wasn’t exciting me as much as I thought it would, so I decided to try and matte it to see if that would make a difference. I definitely liked it better matte – it added more to the punk feel of the polish.

While I was bummed about the circular glitter issues, the polish overall is unique and more ‘tough’ than your average glitter polish – perfect for your roller derby events and black metal concerts!

Pretty & Polished  can be found at her personal website or at her etsy shop. She sells full and mini sized bottles of her polish, as well as gift sets on her personal site.

GREENSPLOSION. China Glaze Running in Circles.

KAPOW! Here’s a green that hits you in the face with its greenness. It’s the mean machine of green. It’s the green you wear when you’re going to Vegas to win some cash money, with a cigarette dangling from your lips and a half-drunk martini in your hand.

Dolla dolla bill, y’all.

This is China Glaze’s ‘Running In Circles’ from their Cirque De Soleil line. It’s mad shiny, with a bit more of a foil appearance than I personally prefer, but it has great application and durability. I’ve had it on for two days now, and as you can see from the photos, I only have a minor bit of tip wear.

The photos show two coats of Running In Circles with one coat of Essie’s Shine of the Times on my ring finger for some variety. If you’re one of those people who are like, ‘meh, green is all right, I’m not crazy about it, but whatever,’ then don’t buy this polish, you got me? Because it is the greenest green I’ve seen in a while. Kelly green. Leprechaun green. Dolla dolla bill green. But if you’re like me, and own at least one green thing for every type of article clothing (yes, I have green pants and yes, they are amazing) then you will be very happy with this polish, methinks.

Check it. SO GREEN.

Sparklefest

It’s a sparklefest up in here!! And by up in here I mean on my nails. And by sparklefest I mean holy cow, my nails are bling bling a ring a dingin’. So let me share with you the polishes I’m wearing and my opinion on said polishes.

I’m currently wearing China Glaze Angel Wings with Orly Atomic Splash. Check it:

China Glaze Angel Wings looks pretty weird in the bottle. It’s one of those polishes I would always pick up in the store and then put down, thinking ‘Nah, too weird.’ It’s got this jaundiced yellowish hue that makes it seem like it would be unflattering on anyone. So naturally, I bought it.

On the nails, it’s a completely different story. It’s really quite gorgeous – an antiqued sort of shimmer, like a soft layer of gold dust. It’s very sheer, and took three coats to make it completely opaque.

Well, micro shimmer polish is not quite enough sparkle for me, so I had to slap some chunky on top, which is where Orly Atomic Splash comes into the picture. It’s coming out more blue here in these pictures than it is in real life – in real life, it shimmers somewhere between lavender and grey. It’s nice.

If peacocks painted their nails, I imagine this is the sort of thing they would sport. Sparklefest, baby. Shim sham shimmer.